Figure

Figure today announced a “commercial agreement” that will bring its first humanoid robot to a BMW manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The Spartanburg plant is BMW’s only in the United States. As of 2019, the 8 million-square-foot campus boasted the highest yield among the German manufacturer’s factories anywhere in the world. BMW has not disclosed how many Figure 01 models it will deploy initially. Nor do we know precisely what jobs the robot will be tasked with when it starts work. Figure did, however, confirm…

Sales of CDs rose last year for the first time in two decades, helping to lift the UK’s total spending on music to the highest level since the days when Destiny’s Child, Limp Bizkit and David Gray were topping the album charts.The value of all music sales – including spending on streaming, vinyl, CDs and downloads – rose 9.6% in 2023 to reach £2.2bn, just 0.08% shy of the record 22 years earlier, according to the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA).The biggest-selling album was The Weeknd’s The Highlights,…

She did her hair toss and checked her nails; in 2024, Lizzo is feeling good as heck.Taking to her Instagram page on Monday (January 1), the 35-year-old singer posted a clip of herself modeling her brand YITTY’s latest line of shapewear with special lifting technology for curvy figures.In the video, Lizzo humorously exclaimed: “New year, new me. You know how they say ‘Run, don’t walk?’ Teleport, b*tch.”The new line of shapewear consists of an “ultra lift legging” as well as a bra. Lizzo described the bra as her label’s…

Why does the referee have to announce “Number 65 is reporting as an eligible receiver”? Why not make the defense figure out who’s eligible pre-snap?Kenny MayneSeattleFarmer: First, let’s establish what defines an eligible and ineligible receiver. An offense is required to have at least seven players on the line. The players widest to the right and left are eligible receivers; the others — typically two tackles, two guards, and a center — are not. Anyone on the line of scrimmage but inside the right-most or left-most…

Last week, I posed this challenge: You and nine of your coworkers are sitting in a conference room when somebody wonders aloud about the group’s average salary. Everyone is curious, but nobody feels comfortable sharing their own pay with the group. How can you all learn your average salary without anybody learning any more information about another person’s salary (other than what can be deduced from the group average)? You all have pen and paper and can conceal what you write from others, but you have no other tools at…

You would think that a school would react appropriately to a medical emergency. Even if it’s not an emergency, a medical anything would be enough for a school to have to comply, right?Well, they didn’t. And, so, a student had to take matters into her own hands. That is, of course, by means of what Reddit calls petty revenge in the form of ringing her radio host dad and telling him how the school isn’t allowing her the prescription meds she needs.Do not underestimate highschoolers. They can be devilishly cunning, and…

He hadn’t been sick. Except for persistent pain in his upper back, between his neck and his shoulder blades, Todd Sand was the picture of health when he traveled to Calgary early this year to coach promising pair skaters Sonia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.The first part of the competition went well, with the stylish duo performing the top-ranked short program. But that night, when Sand called his wife and fellow coach, Jenni Meno, he mentioned he was tired and achy and…

Image: Hot ToysHere’s a first look at the latest Spider-Man figure from collectible giants Hot Toys.This rendering of the Amazing Spider-Man is inspired by Marvel’s web-slinging action, complete with pop-out comic book style framing. Featuring a title card along with cityscape base, the figure can be posed in action going up against the Green Goblin. The figure’s accessories help create different looks for posing, like a webbed torso, web-shooters plus string, and a camera (paging J. Jonah Jameson!). Not much more is…

In accordionist James Fearnley’s memoir of his time with the Pogues, Here Comes Everybody, there is a description of the band’s first headlining tour of Ireland, and in particular, a gig in Carlow during which a mass brawl breaks out in the audience. Afterwards, Fearnley is horrified, both by the crowd’s behaviour and frontman Shane MacGowan’s reaction, which involves turning on his bandmates and delivering them a lecture on human nature. “People are just this much away from murdering each other, this much away from…

Image: Super7At the end of the week, Godzilla stomps back into theaters with the release of Godzilla Minus One, one of the best movies of the year. He’s doing so with a slick new look, evoking the King of the Monsters’ classic design with some gritty, grotty detailing and a whole lot of threatening dorsal fins—something captured in Super7's slick new action figure.Revealed today as the latest entry in the toymaker’s Toho Ultimates line, the Minus One Godzilla figure clocks in at 8" tall, and 14" from…